Lio by Mark Tatulli for July 13, 2021

Harold Forster “Harry” Chapin (1942-1981)

Must be solar powered.

So the little robot heads off into the sunset, can it get more cliched???

Well, I’m happy for the robot.

Yes, they grow up so fast.

Three more days and it will be the 40th anniversary of Harry’s death.

I was lucky enough to see him perform about a month before that. He played for so long, that he literally ran out of the theater at the end to catch his flight.

Thus, the Robot Apocalypse begins.

For those of us who lost parents at a young age, that is one of the saddest songs he performed , though i suspect “Taxi” comes a close second for those with lost and broken dreams.

A live version of the song…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etundhQa724

Snick.

A vorpal (pocket) blade?

Wow! Coincidence. I’m playing a Harry Chapin album (“Sequel”) as I read the strip. Played “Verities & Balderdash”, which has “Cat’s In The Cradle” on it, yesterday.

Awww…that song always brings a tear to me eye, it does…

“Snik”? Really ?

Dang, now it on a loop in my head

Well, at least Lio isn’t a deadbeat dad like Victor Frankenstein was!

I loved Harry’s ballads for the most part. There is at least one that I cannot listen to as it just tears me apart.

What a great earworm. I’m keeping this one

Kind of a sad song, especially to those of us who lost their Dad before their time…

Co-written by Harry and his wife, Sandra Gaston Chapin. It started with a poem she had written about the relationship between her ex-husband and their son.

Rise of the robots.

Pinocchio has cut his strings.

Major bonus points for the Harry Chapin reference. That said, it is unlikely at best that the self-absorbed main character of this strip could ever truly grasp Chapin’s work.

I didn’t see that coming…. Brilliant!

It feels like this connects to something in real life for somebody. ❣️❣️❣️are you ok?